Nearly 200 firefighters responded to the blaze, which is believed to have started in Bloom’s Bar and Restaurant, a popular and busy local landmark, shortly after 2 p.m.
Almost a dozen firefighters and one policeman were treated for smoke inhalation and other minor injuries at Elmhurst Hospital and Mount Sinai Hospital in Long Island City, authorities said.
Police closed 10 blocks of Queens Boulevard to traffic and the No. 7 subway line was shut down during rush hour, leaving hot and irritable passengers to make their way home on foot — as they had been forced to a week earlier during the blackout.
When the overhead subway service did eventually resume, it moved at a snail’s pace. Riders gasped with surprise when they discovered the cause of the delay.
Temperatures on Thursday reached 90 degrees with high humidity, which contributed significantly to the heat exhaustion suffered by firefighters beating back the blaze.
For a time, witnesses said, it seemed the firefighters could not access the source of the fire to put it out.
Dubliner Hazel Coombes, a bartender at the Gaslight, a block and half from the fire, said: “They were all there [emergency personnel] for a long while, at least 45 minutes, and nothing was happening. And then suddenly, there was 20 times the amount of smoke and it was out of control. It was unbelievable.” At that time [after 4:30] you could feel the effects of the smoke in the Gaslight.
A cook at Bloom’s, Segundo Castro, was adamant that the fire did not start in the kitchen. “I work in the kitchen. Smoke was coming from the ducts. I took the fire extinguisher, and I started spraying. But it kept on smoking. It didn’t start in the kitchen — I work in there.”
Owners Ronan Conlon, Andy Breslin and Mark Fox opened Bloom’s in 2001 and its impeccably designed interior had displayed many striking paintings and notable antiques, such as a 1934 church pulpit that was also an occasional DJ booth. The venue had hosted a series of readings and lectures and even staged plays by famous Irish writers.
Paul Gallen, co-owner of the Chipper, a nearby fish and chip shop that is a firm favorite with the Irish in Sunnyside, looked tired and stressed. “We first saw the smoke rising up over the buildings some time after 2 in the afternoon,” he said. “Our premises is intact, but we have water and smoke damage in the basement.”
The fire destroyed the Irish-owned and operated butcher shop and general provision store the Butcher’s Block; the well-known Irish travel agency Grafton Travel was also gutted; Pronto Envio, a copy and computer center, was lost in the blaze, as was a popular Dunkin Donuts and Nams Sun Market, a produce store that hosted a range of signature Irish products.
There was a rumor that one of the Butcher’s Block employees was trapped and had to be rescued by firefighters, but the report was unfounded.
“No he wasn’t trapped,” a colleague of the man said. “He went to have his lunch in the basement. We just forgot about him. He came out 5 minutes later. He’s OK.”
Two other buildings in the block, the Nakwon Reformed Church and the Blue Sky bar, also sustained smoke and water damage.
Prabir Mitra, an Indian immigrant and owner of the Dunkin Donuts, stood in front of his premises and said: “Just look at the building. There is nothing to say.”
He said he had put $350,000 worth of renovations into his premises last year.
“All that was in vain, even though I have insurance,” he said.
It took 168 firefighters to put out the blaze, which was not declared under control until 7 p.m. Thursday. The high humidity kept the smoke close to the ground, reducing visibility so much that Queens Boulevard and the overhead subway line had to be closed off at 3:30 p.m. for almost three hours.
“You had a little United Nations on this block,” said City Councilman Eric Gioia, a Democrat, who visited the site in the aftermath of the blaze. “I hope the city and the insurers move quickly on this so that rebuilding can start, because a delay could really harm this neighborhood.”
Gioia said that he is working to secure loans for the business owners to help them rebuild.
“It’s one thing to destroy stores, they can be rebuilt, but this was a beautiful mix of people,” Prabir Mitra said. “Look, you had Korean, Indian, Irish, Spanish, Chinese. This is the way New York is now. Sure I have insurance, so it’s just a small hole in my pocket. It’s not going to kill me, but it might destroy the ethnic mix. I’m afraid they’re going to bulldoze it and raise the rent.”
Department of Buildings officials who visited the scene on Friday said the structure in Sunnyside does not pose any immediate danger to the public, although the area around the buildings has been fenced off and no one will be allowed inside. Fire marshals said they don’t yet know the cause, but the blaze does not appear to be suspicious.
“It’s under investigation,” said fire marshal Leroy Haynes. “We believe that it started in the restaurant [Bloom’s], but we’re not sure, and we won’t be sure until next week when we go over the debris that’s going to be taken out by the excavators and the demolishers.”
Luke Adams, executive director of the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce, expressed concern about the possible fate of the 41st Street block. There is a good chance, he indicated, that the site could be rented to a big box or drugstore franchise, which he believed would damage the fabric of the Queens community.
“These merchants all supported the neighborhood,” he said. “It’s not like the big chains, which don’t care about the community. If we lose the block, we lose a lot.”
In the immediate aftermath of the blaze, Bloom’s employees congregated in Sidetracks bar and restaurant further along Queens Boulevard to commiserate with each other and try to take the events in.
“Many people have just lost their jobs and their only source of income over this,” a young woman said. “New York has been hit hard and hit hard again. There’s just no sense to it at all. I’m devastated.”
Kiho Nam, owner of Nam’s Sun Market, watched in silence as the firefighters picked their way past the charred corner grocery he had owned. He looked heartbroken. The investigation into the fire’s cause is continuing.
(Peter McDermott contributed to this story.)